Table of contents for Oct/Nov 2024 in Guideposts

Looking over my notes for this editor’s page, I hear scratching. Gracie, my golden, is trying to reclaim a ball that has disappeared under the couch, just beyond the reach of her outstretched paw. Normally I would intervene, getting on my hands and knees and wielding a Swiffer. I would be her hero. But I find myself engrossed in watching her exertions. As my vet once said, Gracie is a resilient dog. Resilience, a word you hear a lot these days. What is resilience? The capacity to bounce back? Simple stick-to-itiveness? I think of resilience as hope in action. Our hope is the superpower that fosters resilience and leads us toward positive outcomes in life. Several of my favorite pieces in this issue exemplify resilience. In our cover story, Kelly…

A PASTOR’S GIFT October is Pastor Appreciation OMonth. A couple years ago, our congregation decided to honor our pastor in a unique way. Someone bought a Bible with extra-wide margins, then asked each church member to write a message to our pastor next to a verse that was especially meaningful for them. We had to be stealthy, passing around the Bible and signing it at church classes and events without the pastor finding out. Adults and kids alike wrote in it, and many shared a story about how the scripture they’d chosen reminded them of our pastor or of a special memory they’d made together. One Sunday in October, we presented the Bible to our pastor. When he opened it and looked through the pages, he became overwhelmed with emotion.…

I sat on an examining table in the stark white glare of a doctor’s office. I was waiting for some X-ray results. I knew in my heart the results would not be good. For three months, my left knee had been the source of unbearable pain. I’d tried all the usual remedies—rest, ice, elevation, physical therapy exercises. Nothing made a difference. I needed a solution. I was 45 years old, the mother of two very active twin girls. I rarely stopped moving at home. I also was a dedicated runner. I ran five marathons the year I turned 40. A wall at my home was covered with the medals, race numbers and photos of me competing. I love running. It’s my stress release, my quiet time—God time. Most of all,…

I praise God daily for all of my wonderful blessings and many answered prayers. Thanks to my God, Thanksgiving is every day.—DIANE We’re grateful to all who prayed for Nathan to enter treatment for his addiction. He went into detox today. We pray this is his first step on the road to recovery.—KELLY Thank you, Lord, for leading me to a church where I feel I belong.—ELIZABETH My husband and I are talking and trying to reconcile and restore our marriage, thanks to prayers in Jesus’ name.—PHYLLIS From our readers and website visitors. Send your answered prayer to submissions@guideposts.org.…

“I don’t just thank God for the victories. I thanked him for the defeat.”DAWN STALEY, University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach, on how her faith and her team’s 2023 NCAA championship loss led to a 2024 championship win and undefeated season “Humans can learn something from these animals. If all these different species can get along, so can we.”LAURIE ZALESKI, founder of Funny Farm Rescue & Sanctuary in New Jersey, home to more than 600 rescued animals “Trusting God is a series of choices, not a onetime event.”from Permission to Dream, by CHRISTINE CAINE “There are some storms and troubles that are leading to where the Almighty wants you to go…. Consider it a divine detour.”ROBIN ROBERTS, journalist “Resilience equals grit plus forgiveness.”SUZY WELCH, writer, professor and speaker “When…

“You said you would take me to the airport!” I narrowed my eyes at my husband. Jeff frantically scrolled the calendar on his phone. “I must have forgotten to enter the flight,” he said. “I can’t take you now. I have an appointment.” “But you offered just yesterday!” I said. “How could you forget?” I turned away, muttering, “I should have known.” “Should have known what?” Jeff snapped. “That you don’t care enough to remember!” I said. “That’s not fair!” Jeff said. “You know my heart medication makes me forgetful. This isn’t my fault. You’ve been mad at me since the minute you walked in the door.” “There you go again—telling me how I feel!” Another day, another argument. For two decades, Jeff and I had been happily married. Now…

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you.” —JOB 12:7 (NIV) My alarm didn’t go off. I woke up late, and that meant the rest of the house woke up late too. My son Henry rushed to eat his breakfast and got dressed while I scrambled to throw together his lunch. Thankfully, he made it out the front door and caught the bus with seconds to spare. Still, that anxious, hurried feeling stayed with me, ruining the comfort of my routine and leaving me with the restless sense that something was amiss. I put on my coat and shoes and grabbed the leash to walk my dog, Soda, and hopefully find some peace. The sun rose over the mountains,…

Rain pounded my car as I pulled into the hospital parking lot. Weather reports had warned of a big summer thunderstorm. I hurried into the hospital and took the elevator to the third floor. I worked the night shift at a sleep lab in Houston. The lab monitored patients while they slept, for diagnosing sleep disorders. It was the perfect job for a college student finishing his computer science degree. All I had to do was hook up patients to sensors, then monitor the equipment while they slept. The rest of the time was mine for studying. Some patients got up several times to use the restroom or ask me to readjust a sensor. Tonight there was only one patient, an unusually sound sleeper. The lab was a silent oasis…

I checked my watch. 8:45 P.M. It looked as if the shorts I’d ordered from Amazon weren’t going to get here tonight. Maybe I should just go to bed. That’s what things had come to since my wife, Linda, died a month earlier. My life felt so empty, the only thing I had to look forward to were Amazon deliveries. It wasn’t the items that I needed as much as the few moments of human connection with the drivers. Lord, I never knew it was possible to be this lonely. Linda and I had been married for almost 54 years. We’d been more in love than ever when she died suddenly of a brain aneurysm on October 19. Now it was mid-November. The friends who had checked in on me so…

HAPPY MEAL “Time to set the clocks back,” my husband, Eric, said on a Saturday last fall, turning to the clock radio on our night table. “Wouldn’t want to be early for church tomorrow.” I rolled my eyes at his joke. It was a reference to a childhood prayer of mine, one I’d prayed every Sunday for years. It went back to one fall Sunday when I was six. My parents got us kids ready for services as usual. But when we got to church, the parking lot was empty. “What’s going on?” my mother said. My father slapped his forehead. “Daylight saving time,” he said. “We forgot to change the clocks. Church doesn’t start for an hour.” He thought for a second. “Well, we can’t sit here all that…

COMBATING LONELINESS Guideposts Outreach’s free inspirational booklets have blessed the Wyldwood Prison Ministry. Our all-volunteer, donation-based operation serves incarcerated men and women in Texas. Every week, we receive 15 to 25 letters, many from people with depression and other mental health issues. The booklets on cultivating hope and combating loneliness and anxiety provide great comfort and show people that they are not alone, especially as the cards and letters from our ministry are often the only mail they receive. We also support those who have drug- or alcohol-related convictions. We send as many as 200 Daily Guideposts for Recovery booklets every few months. We’re grateful for these booklets that help encourage people and draw them closer to God. To learn how you can support the Wyldwood Prison Ministry, email…

Guideposts readers save 10% OFF with code GPSAVE10 Draw closer to God all year long with our best-selling devotionals and planner. GUIDEPOSTS EXCLUSIVE OFFER! 10% OFF WITH CODE GPSAVE10 Guideposts.org/shop OR SCAN THE QR CODE OFFER ENDS 10/15/24 *Offer valid until Oct 15, 2024, 11:59pm ET. Valid for 10% off with code GPSAVE10. May not be combined with any other codes. Magazines and donations excluded from 10% discount. If purchasing a book series, devotional or planner with Subscribe & Save, the offer only applies to the initial book purchase. Offer has no cash value and is not valid on previous purchases. Offer is limited to stock on hand, no rain checks. Guideposts reserves the right to modify or terminate this offer at any time without notice.…

My husband, John, and I were in the supermarket checkout line when storm warnings began flashing on our phones. We rushed to the car and stuffed the groceries inside just as rain started to pour. On the drive home, we spotted something ominous in the distance. It looked like a white sheet was hanging low on the horizon, ringed by black clouds. I backed into the driveway. We’d have to make a dash for it. “I’ll take the fish inside first and put it in the fridge,” John said. “I’ll get the rest of…” Before I could finish the sentence, an inner voice interrupted me, a voice I’d come to know as the Holy Spirit. “Wait,” it said firmly. The car was just steps from our house. Still, I grabbed…

Dave Combs (Special Delivery, page 64) remains in near daily contact with Shontia and her family. This past June, he attended Mariyah’s fifthgrade graduation. “They make me feel like part of the family,” Dave says. This isn’t his first story to appear in GUIDEPOSTS. His first, about his composition “Rachel’s Song,” was published in September 1994; within two weeks, 10,000 readers had contacted him to buy his music. Dave has recorded 14 instrumental albums and written a memoir, Touched by the Music. Not a day passes that he doesn’t remember his beloved wife, Linda. “She was the one who always encouraged me in my music,” Dave says. Linda knew something about achieving goals. She was Controller of the United States from 2005 to 2007 and served under presidents Ronald Reagan,…